


Un Jour, Un Enfant

by ellymango



Category: Ballerina | Leap! (2016)
Genre: Child Abandonment, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Orphans, Parent-Child Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-30 02:42:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12098949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellymango/pseuds/ellymango
Summary: On her first night in Paris, Félicie is feeling desperately lost and alone. Sure she'd managed to persuade this strange, mean cleaning lady to take her in...But she was hardly the friendliest person she'd met.





	Un Jour, Un Enfant

**Author's Note:**

> Title is a Eurovision entry because I am trash

"You don't want me here, do you?"

Odette didn't even look at her and continued brushing her long hair in the mirror, delaying her response. "Whatever gave you that idea?" 

"Isn't it obvious?" Her face scrunched up. "You've been grouchy and mean all evening. It's pretty clear you don't like me."

"How do you know I'm not like that all the time?" She finished brushing and started braiding. "Besides, I told you: I hate children."

"Then why are you letting me stay?"

"Because you wouldn't leave me alone.”

"Well I'll leave you alone now!" Félicie could feel herself starting to cry. "I-I'll run away, and find someone else! Someone who's actually nice to me, and, and isn't a... mean old _witch_ like you!" 

Odette abruptly turned round with a sigh, still using the same dry tone she’d used all evening. "Fine. Go. Leave. I don't care." She sat down on her bed to finish her braid, once again turning her back on the child.

She was about to kneel down for pre-bedtime prayers when she heard soft sobs coming from Félicie’s direction. "Oh stop crying, I didn't mean it."

But she didn't stop. 

With yet another frustrated sigh, Odette pushed herself up, stumbling over her limp and, cursing like a sailor, dragged herself over to Félicie's make-do bed on her couch. "Look, child." She sat down, wrapping her arm around her trembling shoulders, causing her to gasp slightly. "I know I haven't been all that welcoming tonight and that I’ve been really grumpy and- what are you doing...?"

Félicie seemed so content laying still and somewhat bewildered against her, as though Odette’s half-hearted and not-all-that-caring “hug” was the most wonderful thing in the world. 

She frowned. "What, have you never been hugged before, child?"

"Not like this..." Félicie closed her eyes in wonder, nuzzling into Odette’s side and wrapping her arms around her. 

Odette vaguely remembered the girl mentioning she was an orphan earlier, a statement she'd dismissed as a lie told by a mischievous street urchin looking to swindle her out of a few francs. Now, with the child cuddling into her like she'd never been shown any form of parental love or affection before, she was starting to think she had told her the truth.

She let herself relax, unconsciously stroking the girls shoulder. "Did you have nobody at the orphanage to look after you?”

Félicie wrinkled her nose. "The Sisters wouldn't touch us. Not that you'd want to go near them; they smelled funny." She frowned. “They were pretty mean too. Really grumpy and rude all the time. Like you could tell they all hated children.”

She smiled. “I’ve known a few nuns like that, trust me. Must just be a nun thing.”

Félicie laughed softly, leaning into Odette and yawning slightly, a lot more at ease and content than she had been earlier. “You know, you’re actually not that mean at all. Well, you were earlier but you’re nice now.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Her brows furrowed slightly. “Can... I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

"You... didn't know your parents, did you?”

Félicie drooped. "I was abandoned. Apparently they just... left me there on the doorstep. I don't what they looked like, what they were called, I...” She clenched a fistful of Odette’s nightshirt. “I don’t even know if they chose my name or if the Sisters did. They just... left me there. I guess...”

_“I guess they didn't want me either..."_

Her eyes squeezed shut, a tear leaking out and rolling down her freckled cheek as she hugged Odette tighter, her trembling returning as she burrowed into her more. _"They didn't want me. Nobody wants me."_

Odette felt her heart soften, and she eased the quietly weeping child into a more tender and natural embrace. Before this night she would _never_ have imagined herself allowing anyone hug her like this, let alone a strange child she found snooping around the theatre. But somehow, here she was allowing a random street child cuddle into her side and cry out her troubles.

She felt so... warm, and soft, and Odette couldn’t believe how content she felt with Félicie nestled in her arms. She vaguely recalled an old memory from when she was still a teenager, and heard in her mind her mother’s voice telling her:

_“When you become a mother, the first time you hold your child you will feel this huge rush of love... it’s overwhelming, overpowering, yet so beautiful... you forget what just happened and all you care about is the life resting in your arms.”_  
_“You’re getting sappy again mama.”_  
_“I know I am. But one day I hope you’ll get to feel that love.”_

Odette wondered if this was that fabled love her mother had told her about all those years ago.

She stroked the girls braid, teasing the hairs at the back of her head. “I... know that I haven’t been all that welcoming tonight. And I know that I can be mean and grumpy...” She felt the girl nodding her head. “But... I can tell you this. Even if they didn’t want you then... I do.”

She was honestly expecting Félicie to perk up, eyes wide and a puppy-dog smile on her face. But she stayed still, contemplating Odette’s words and enjoying this affection that was so alien to her. “Do you really mean that?”

She didn’t even pause. “Yes.”


End file.
